Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[DangerousMinds]

15 hours ago, Spencer Hastings said:

Yet there are breastfeeding women all over the world who are separated from their children for hours at a time (an entire day!) and the kids are still able to be fed. 

I hope someone pointed this out to her.

[Sew Sumi]

1 minute ago, DangerousMinds said:

I hope someone pointed this out to her.

Probably. But a response like that earns a deletion and possibly a block.

[crazy8s]

11 hours ago, kokapetl said:

Neanderthals couldn’t pump breast milk, but Jessa can. I think they took their children because because their lives revolve around them.

 the appearance of the perfect mother. my child is always breast fed.

can't possibly pump and fill a bottle.

harks back to michelle breast feeding on a parade float, a child in the breast friend thing at an elementary school ,etc

 

[GeeGolly]

Josie somehow managed to eat during all her months in the NICU. Jessa needs to come up with better defensive remarks.

[JoanArc]

1 hour ago, Sew Sumi said:

Probably. But a response like that earns a deletion and possibly a block.

Tough as nails, that Jessa!

 

Quote

Jessa needs to come up with better defensive remarks.

Not necessary if she keeps to her small pond.

Edited March 2, 2020 by JoanArc

[Sew Sumi]

4 minutes ago, JoanArc said:

Tough as nails, that Jessa!

 

Not necessary if she keeps to her small pond.

She had 5700 likes on that comment when I copied the screenshot. She knows her (moronic) audience.

[JoanArc]

5 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

She had 5700 likes on that comment when I copied the screenshot. She knows her (moronic) audience.

She's the one I'm going to most love seeing crash and burn when the show goes bye-bye.

[ginger90]

4 pictures:

 

 

 

 

[realityfan26]

1 minute ago, ginger90 said:

4 pictures:

 

 

 

 

What is Henry's middle name? Weird she'd hashtag one full name and not the other.

[ginger90]

2 minutes ago, realityfan26 said:

What is Henry's middle name? Weird she'd hashtag one full name and not the other.

It’s Wilberforce.

[Churchhoney]

3 minutes ago, realityfan26 said:

What is Henry's middle name? Weird she'd hashtag one full name and not the other.

It's Wilberforce....

Maybe she put Spurge's middle name on there to show people that one of his names is less horrifying....I don't think she wanted him to have Spurgeon as a first name, did she? That was Bin, I think...................

[Sew Sumi]

2 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

It's Wilberforce....

Maybe she put Spurge's middle name on there to show people that one of his names is less horrifying....I don't think she wanted him to have Spurgeon as a first name, did she? That was Bin, I think...................

This post came from Guinn Seewald. You'd think she'd know Henry's (unfortunate) middle name.

[Mojitogirl]

I went down the rabbit hole of the Seewald Instagram and noticed that Jessa doesn’t even follow Jessica (Jill does follow her). I know it’s a stupid metric, but, as Jessa is acutely aware, social media is a huge thing and her not following such a close family member is pretty much a snub. However, the minute her SIL is on a TV show, there is Jessa flaunting her modest and godly ways front and center. I almost get the feeling that there’s no love lost between them. 

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, JoanArc said:

She's the one I'm going to most love seeing crash and burn when the show goes bye-bye.

Absolutely! Second in line for me - Anna.

3 minutes ago, Mojitogirl said:

I went down the rabbit hole of the Seewald Instagram and noticed that Jessa doesn’t even follow Jessica (Jill does follow her). I know it’s a stupid metric, but, as Jessa is acutely aware, social media is a huge thing and her not following such a close family member is pretty much a snub. However, the minute her SIL is on a TV show, there is Jessa flaunting her modest and godly ways front and center. I almost get the feeling that there’s no love lost between them. 

Hopefully Jessa comes across as the stick-up-her-ass she really is on that show.

[Churchhoney]

27 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

This post came from Guinn Seewald. You'd think she'd know Henry's (unfortunate) middle name.

Well, maybe she had the same reason I attributed to Jessa! --- She's not in love with the name "Wilberforce" either, so she left it out -- but was wanting to make the point that Spurge actually does have one name that doesn't sound like something you cough up in the latter stages of influenza. 😁

Edited March 3, 2020 by Churchhoney

[galaxychaser]

On 2/28/2020 at 9:18 PM, NotthebadVictoria said:

Baby yoda is much cuter than Ivy IMO 😂

Yep I don’t think Ivy is that cute. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

28 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

Well, maybe she had the same reason I attributed to Jessa! --- She's not in love with the name "Wilberforce" either, so she left it out -- but was wanting to make the point that Spurge actually does have one name that doesn't sound like something you cough up in the latter stages of influenza. 😁

One might cough up Spurge in the latter stages of influenza, but I just spewed Pinot Grigio out of my nose reading that comment!

[fonfereksglen]

58 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

This post came from Guinn Seewald. You'd think she'd know Henry's (unfortunate) middle name.

Can you imagine her discussions with Ben regarding his directionless life?  The TLC money will be less and less and less with each grandbaby and then end.  The social media money from bad haircuts ?..... who knows but not enough to support any more children.

[fonfereksglen]

21 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

Yep I don’t think Ivy is that cute. 

And Freddie Bartholomew had better curly hair and was better looking than Spurge, her Little Lord Fauntleroy. 

[Lunera]

1 hour ago, Mojitogirl said:

I went down the rabbit hole of the Seewald Instagram and noticed that Jessa doesn’t even follow Jessica (Jill does follow her). I know it’s a stupid metric, but, as Jessa is acutely aware, social media is a huge thing and her not following such a close family member is pretty much a snub. However, the minute her SIL is on a TV show, there is Jessa flaunting her modest and godly ways front and center. I almost get the feeling that there’s no love lost between them. 

I think Jessa unfollowed Jesisca because she's a jealous bitch. Jessica is living her best life working, drinking,  and having fun. It's also obvious she's on birth control, she and her husband seem to be enjoying their new pup.

[fonfereksglen]

3 hours ago, JoanArc said:

She's the one I'm going to most love seeing crash and burn when the show goes bye-bye.

All things considered, Jill, Jing and child bride, Joy, married pretty well.   

Jessa married a lost, overwhelmed little boy, whose family expected more.

Edited March 3, 2020 by fonfereksglen

[Oldernowiser]

So when exactly did they all whip out a boob and feed their babies? No photos?

Did they pack enough Breast Friends for everyone or did they just pass one around the table?

So many questions...

On another note, Jessa is one seriously snotty princess.

 

[BitterApple]

Interesting the things Jessa gets bitchy about. They all seem to relate to Bin. First, when someone asked if he had a job and now after someone made a comment about Duggar husbands not helping with the kids. I don't think they're quite as happy behind the scenes as their Instagram date nights try to pretend. 

[Zella]

It's just a hunch I have, but I have always sort of thought Jessa and Ben had the most buyer's remorse out of all the married Duggar girls. Josiah seems to win that contest for the boys. . . . 

[BitterApple]

Just now, Zella said:

It's just a hunch I have, but I have always sort of thought Jessa and Ben had the most buyer's remorse out of all the married Duggar girls. Josiah seems to win that contest for the boys. . . . 

I agree. They both seem to be gritting their teeth through life. I think Joy and Austin are best suited in terms of personalities, interests and goals. 

[galaxychaser]

On 2/28/2020 at 8:55 PM, Sofa Sloth said:

All I see is baby yoda.

 Yeah I’m going to hell...

Can I buy you lunch at Panera? This is so funny!

[Vantraveller]

On 3/2/2020 at 2:36 PM, Sew Sumi said:

Jessa still reads the comments and claps back.

 

Does Jessa even believe in Neanderthal man?

[GeeGolly]

I don't think Jessa has buyers remorse with Ben. She married a boy who lets her stay in her Kingdom and he cooks dinner.

Because Jessa is uncomfortable around anyone without a Duggar gene or Fundy beliefs, she is right where she needs to be. Any place else Jessa would flounder and fail.

On a side note. I wonder if Jessa can look at the pics of her and her sisters and see she is now the frumpy one with fading looks.

[lascuba]

10 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Interesting the things Jessa gets bitchy about. They all seem to relate to Bin. First, when someone asked if he had a job and now after someone made a comment about Duggar husbands not helping with the kids. I don't think they're quite as happy behind the scenes as their Instagram date nights try to pretend. 

Jessa really tells on herself when it comes to her relationship with Ben. While I don't like them as a couple, I would tend to think that those two are the most stable in the sense that they've found a way to live harmoniously while not being all that compatible. And then Jessa claps back to the most innocuous comments about Ben and it's like...oh. Shit must be BAD.

I will die on the hill that Ben is forever bitter that marrying a Duggar didn't lead to the life Famous Preacher with Hot Wife Who Knows Her Place, and he makes that bitterness obvious to Jessa. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

[galaxychaser]

4 hours ago, AussiesRule said:

Does Jessa even believe in Neanderthal man?

She probably believes Neanderthal men roamed the earth with dinasaurs.

[DangerousMinds]

8 hours ago, AussiesRule said:

Does Jessa even believe in Neanderthal man?

Does Jessa even truly know what they are?

[JoanArc]

20 hours ago, Oldernowiser said:

On another note, Jessa is one seriously snotty princess.

 There’s nothing to fall back on after her looks are gone. No skills, no personality, no experience, no kindness, no heart, no soul.  It’s going to hurt like hell. 

[Zella]

16 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I don't think Jessa has buyers remorse with Ben. She married a boy who lets her stay in her Kingdom and he cooks dinner.

Because Jessa is uncomfortable around anyone without a Duggar gene or Fundy beliefs, she is right where she needs to be. Any place else Jessa would flounder and fail.

On a side note. I wonder if Jessa can look at the pics of her and her sisters and see she is now the frumpy one with fading looks.

I think it's entirely possible that Jessa is happy enough but Ben has a lot more buyers' remorse than Jessa. 

[Spencer Hastings]

4 hours ago, Zella said:

I think it's entirely possible that Jessa is happy enough but Ben has a lot more buyers' remorse than Jessa. 

Well, now that Ben’s frontal lobe is almost fully formed, it’s possible that he realizes he goofed and marrying the hot girl from the tv probably wasn’t the best course of action.

What we want at 19 is much different than what we want at 25.  The same could be said for all of these marriages, but Ben clearly had goals and ambitions that he thought his marriage would help him with but they have gone nowhere.  

[GeeGolly]

I agree that marrying a teenage crush is not usually the wisest choice.

If to Ben, part of Jessa's charm was a leg up in him becoming a Pastor, his chances of becoming one likely did increase when he met and married her. If he still has that dream and is failing that's on Ben. He's making choices and it appears one of them is adopting haphazard employment by JB.

Say what we want about Jeremy and Derick, but at least they didn't collapse completely into the Duggar fold. Derick seems to have jumped ship and Jeremy seems to be trying to use the Duggar 'fame' to his advantage.

Ben was, and maybe still is, more pompous than Jeremy, yet as far as we know, Ben is no longer attending college and spends his days hanging around the Duggar compound, cleaning toilets, mending fences and homeschooling Duggar children and grandchildren.

If Ben still has dreams then he needs to get off one of the dozen TTH couches and try and reach his goals.

 

[GeeGolly]

I get that styles and such change for everyone, but wow, what a difference a few years make.

[galaxychaser]

Joy definitely is pregnant. 

[lascuba]

5 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

I agree that marrying a teenage crush is not usually the wisest choice.

If to Ben, part of Jessa's charm was a leg up in him becoming a Pastor, his chances of becoming one likely did increase when he met and married her. If he still has that dream and is failing that's on Ben. He's making choices and it appears one of them is adopting haphazard employment by JB.

Say what we want about Jeremy and Derick, but at least they didn't collapse completely into the Duggar fold. Derick seems to have jumped ship and Jeremy seems to be trying to use the Duggar 'fame' to his advantage.

Ben was, and maybe still is, more pompous than Jeremy, yet as far as we know, Ben is no longer attending college and spends his days hanging around the Duggar compound, cleaning toilets, mending fences and homeschooling Duggar children and grandchildren.

If Ben still has dreams then he needs to get off one of the dozen TTH couches and try and reach his goals.

 

I think Ben is just...weaker than Jeremy and Derick, on top of getting married and having kids way too young because his 17 year old brain made a plan based on fantasy. And since his parents were utter failures with their eldest, they encouraged and enabled him to make irrevocable life decisions based on that fantasy.

I have no doubt that Ben, like Derick, sincerely believed the "we're a ministry" line JB fed him and that once he married into the family, he would be able to used the show as his platform for preaching to the heathen masses. And he and Jessa tried that on social media early on in their marriage, and were either intimidated by the negative response, or were told by TLC and/or JB  to knock it off. I think that was a hard enough blow to shake him. Sure, he started that bible school or whatever that was, but whether because of the kids (which, I just refuse to believe that the births of his children would be the reason he'd postpone/drop out of school); he realized that he just didn't have what it takes to make a living off of ministry (which, do we really think he has that much self awareness?); or he just lost the desire for it; that's clearly not happening any more. He signed up to be JB's lackey thinking it was a stepping stone, and now there he is, no real job of his own, an associates degree that grows more useless the more dust it collects, being on a "reality" show where he's not allowed to say anything real. He has zero adult life experiences outside of the Duggars, except he didn't grow up a Duggar so he knows enough to know that things could be better but is too tied down with responsibilities and too afraid to make a leap towards independence.

Derick was a total goober when he married in, but behind his missionary dreams was a degree and a real job. He could leave TLC and be ok financially with the added bonus of being as big of an asshole as he wants to be on social media. Jeremy has always known what was up and came in with a plan to use it to his advantage. Plus he's not the true believer that Ben is so it's nothing to him to kiss whatever ass that can get him what he wants. It may not be working as well as he thought it would, but for now, he has the connections to keep him afloat and keep his influencer dreams alive. Ben, though? He just doesn't have the foundation.

[Snow Fairy]

And they are even standing in the same order. Right to left oldest to youngest?

[Minivanessa]

12 minutes ago, lascuba said:

I think Ben is just...weaker than Jeremy and Derick, on top of getting married and having kids way too young because his 17 year old brain made a plan based on fantasy. And since his parents were utter failures with their eldest, they encouraged and enabled him to make irrevocable life decisions based on that fantasy.

Your post made many good points. Especially about Ben's parents. I think his parents, or at least his dad, were drinking that kool-aid themselves. IIRC, around the time Ben showed up in the Duggars' lives, his dad was posting fundie theological/social rants aka "sermons" online. I think Mike Seewald had his own case of lust for fame and glory, and thought he'd get to stand in the Duggar limelight and get coated with their fairy dust too. Ben's parents were Vision Forum followers back in the day. 

I don't know where Ben's parents are as to their theology these days but their daughters are definitely living mainstream lives while Ben's life is playing out behind the gates of the Duggar cult. I wonder if they have any regrets about that.

Edited March 4, 2020 by Jeeves

[lascuba]

6 minutes ago, Jeeves said:

Your post made many good points. Especially about Ben's parents. I think his parents, or at least his dad, were drinking that kool-aid themselves. IIRC, around the time Ben showed up in the Duggars' lives, his dad was posting fundie theological/social rants aka "sermons" online. I think Mike Seewald had his own case of lust for fame and glory, and thought he'd get to stand in the Duggar limelight and get coated with their fairy dust too. I don't know where Ben's parents are on this stuff now, but they were Vision Forum followers back in the day. 

I don't know where Ben's parents are as to their theology these days but their daughters are definitely living mainstream lives while Ben's life is playing out behind the gates of the Duggar cult. I wonder if they have any regrets about that.

Oh, Mike Seewald for sure wanted that fame. I remember that blog post that was a passive aggressive dig at JB for not allowing Ben and Jessa to marry sooner. And when JB is the reasonable one, just how ridiculous is the other side's argument?

I think the Seewalds were Vision Forum, but I wonder how deep they were in at the time, because at the time Ben and Jessa were courting, one of his sisters made some snarky comment about side-hugs. And she was going to school and dating at the time, so either Mike and Guinn weren't THAT crazy in how they raised their children or they were just really ineffective at it. The Seewalds are conservative Christians at the very least, but looking at his sisters, I have to wonder if Ben was an outlier in his family even back then with just how religious he was, and his parents encouraged him more out of making him happy than any belief about the holiness of courtship and the Duggars. I think it's such a weird thing to drive 4 hours to attend a home church just for the chance that your son might meet his TV crush, but then plenty of parents would do something like that for their kids (minus the church part). Maybe for the Seewalds, it was no more than doing something fun for their kid that snowballed into something they never imagined, and instead of putting on the breaks when they saw it was going somewhere ("You want to put off school to go scrub toilets so you can get to know some random girl better? Are you high?"), they encouraged it because...dreams or something.

[Temperance]

6 hours ago, lascuba said:

Oh, Mike Seewald for sure wanted that fame. I remember that blog post that was a passive aggressive dig at JB for not allowing Ben and Jessa to marry sooner. And when JB is the reasonable one, just how ridiculous is the other side's argument?

I think the Seewalds were Vision Forum, but I wonder how deep they were in at the time, because at the time Ben and Jessa were courting, one of his sisters made some snarky comment about side-hugs. And she was going to school and dating at the time, so either Mike and Guinn weren't THAT crazy in how they raised their children or they were just really ineffective at it. The Seewalds are conservative Christians at the very least, but looking at his sisters, I have to wonder if Ben was an outlier in his family even back then with just how religious he was, and his parents encouraged him more out of making him happy than any belief about the holiness of courtship and the Duggars. I think it's such a weird thing to drive 4 hours to attend a home church just for the chance that your son might meet his TV crush, but then plenty of parents would do something like that for their kids (minus the church part). Maybe for the Seewalds, it was no more than doing something fun for their kid that snowballed into something they never imagined, and instead of putting on the breaks when they saw it was going somewhere ("You want to put off school to go scrub toilets so you can get to know some random girl better? Are you high?"), they encouraged it because...dreams or something.

Vision Forum collapsed around the time Ben married Jessa and the loss of their group may have changed things for the group. 

Ben's sister Michelle turned 18 last month and is engaged. 

[Sew Sumi]

The Ivy Hairpiece Saga continues...

 

[Growsonwalls]

I think that Ben like a lot of young religious guys wanted the perfect fundie trophy wife and Jessa checked all the boxes. A couple years and three kids later, he realizes that she actually wears the pants in the family. I think he's staying in the marriage "for the kids" and also the TLC paycheck, but his dreams of having the perfect fundie trophy wife are long gone.

[Sew Sumi]

Yeah, Jessa has turned into one of the frumpiest Duggar daughters. Her hair is messy, her dresses ill-fitting. 

[GeeGolly]

Ivy looks a tad bit like Giddy in that last pic.

[sleepysuzy]

On 3/2/2020 at 5:09 AM, kokapetl said:

Neanderthals couldn’t pump breast milk, but Jessa can. I think they took their children because because their lives revolve around them.

Not all women can successfully pump, and not all breastfed babies will take a bottle. I was great at pumping, but know many women whose bodies just did not repond to the pump the same way they did to a latched on baby. Do we have any evidence that Jessa has ever pumped before? I pumped for my kids, but two of the four refused bottles. If I didn't want to rush home from an errand, it was easier just to bring them along. 

Also, does anyone really think Ben wouldn't keep Ivy for a couple of hours if Jessa told him to do so?

[BitterApple]

I think Bin would, but I'm not so sure about the Duggar boys. Boob never did any real childcare, so I can see them viewing babies as the women's responsibility. 

[fonfereksglen]

3 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

The Ivy Hairpiece Saga continues...

 

Horrible picture.   

[mynextmistake]

13 hours ago, lascuba said:

I think Ben is just...weaker than Jeremy and Derick, on top of getting married and having kids way too young because his 17 year old brain made a plan based on fantasy. And since his parents were utter failures with their eldest, they encouraged and enabled him to make irrevocable life decisions based on that fantasy.

I have no doubt that Ben, like Derick, sincerely believed the "we're a ministry" line JB fed him and that once he married into the family, he would be able to used the show as his platform for preaching to the heathen masses. And he and Jessa tried that on social media early on in their marriage, and were either intimidated by the negative response, or were told by TLC and/or JB  to knock it off. I think that was a hard enough blow to shake him. Sure, he started that bible school or whatever that was, but whether because of the kids (which, I just refuse to believe that the births of his children would be the reason he'd postpone/drop out of school); he realized that he just didn't have what it takes to make a living off of ministry (which, do we really think he has that much self awareness?); or he just lost the desire for it; that's clearly not happening any more. He signed up to be JB's lackey thinking it was a stepping stone, and now there he is, no real job of his own, an associates degree that grows more useless the more dust it collects, being on a "reality" show where he's not allowed to say anything real. He has zero adult life experiences outside of the Duggars, except he didn't grow up a Duggar so he knows enough to know that things could be better but is too tied down with responsibilities and too afraid to make a leap towards independence.

Derick was a total goober when he married in, but behind his missionary dreams was a degree and a real job. He could leave TLC and be ok financially with the added bonus of being as big of an asshole as he wants to be on social media. Jeremy has always known what was up and came in with a plan to use it to his advantage. Plus he's not the true believer that Ben is so it's nothing to him to kiss whatever ass that can get him what he wants. It may not be working as well as he thought it would, but for now, he has the connections to keep him afloat and keep his influencer dreams alive. Ben, though? He just doesn't have the foundation.

Ben just seems to have a really passive, laid-back personality in general. I’ve never thought he was a guy with a lot of drive. If he had been allowed to mature at a normal rate, I suspect he’d currently be working at Starbucks, smoking a lot of weed, and trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. Instead he got married at 19 and now has three kids, a demanding wife and a passel of controversial in-laws. I think he’s stuck and kind of bummed about it.